• IN THE GARDEN •
• IN THE GREENHOUSES •
Life, with the gardens
Location: Hamburg, Germany • • • Visit: October 2018
On my journey back from the conference in San Sebastian in October 2018, I had to change trains in Hamburg and ended up spending the night. Seeing autumn unfold outside the train windows, I never knew so much of western Germany was covered by beech forests on rolling hills. Yellow, and grey in that unique way of beeches.
Close to the Hamburg main railway station lies the old botanic garden. Hamburg has two botanic gardens, and with the old one being at such an easy walking distance from the railway station, where my hostel also was located, I thought I might have time to visit both gardens on my day in Hamburg.
No. Just plain no.
The light that day, and the colors on all the trees, the full palette of what leaves can have, from bright green to red so deep it was almost purple. Stillness, reflecting in the many ponds and pools of the garden and adjoining park.
I like how the old garden, established in 1821, is a living space in the city. When walking around in the garden, and in the adjoining park, Planten un Blomen, my impression was that this is a part of the city that is integrated in people’s everyday lives. A space for lunchtime runs, walking the dog, playing with the kids, having a stroll in deep conversation with a friend, reading on a sun-drenched bench by one of the many ponds. In addition to the more conventional botanic garden activity of exploring the wide variety of plants that grow both in the greenhouses and in the surrounding park. A garden for the city-dweller and the whole family.
The greenhouse complex, built in 1962, was admission free (or was, at least, when I visited in 2018). That probably contributed to how well-visited it felt – children standing on the path, marveling at the magnificent ferns. The greenhouses were large, with different rooms, like walking through the tropical biomes in miniature. It felt, somehow, a bit more ornamental than some of the very systematic greenhouses that I’ve visited, like the one in Meise, but it was intensely green and lush and breathing that warm, humid air was such a relief from the autumn chill outside. And the light, again. That day in October was incredible. There is something about the quality of the light in October that is so cleansing, less demanding than in summer and not as piercing as in winter. Just clear. Beautiful, streaming through the glass roof of the greenhouse.
I had a special day there, in the old botanic garden in Hamburg, and I didn’t make it out until dusk, wandering between garden sections, distinct, like entering different rooms. I could have stayed longer, but the autumn chill and darkness got the best of me.
Katja Malmborg 